The gamma-ray emission from the pulsar magnetosphere: theoretical predictions and comparison with the Fermi LAT young pulsar population

dr Marco Pierbattista, CAMK Toruń

The exceptional results obtained in the last years from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) in detecting pulsars have produced a considerable increase of the high-energy pulsar population. The possibility to study the γ-ray pulsars with high statistics represents a unique opportunity to understand pulsar physics. Moreover it offers the possibility to constrain the most debated gap models through different techniques, from the comparison of the collective properties of a simulated population to the structure and morphology analysis of each γ-ray pulsar light-curve.
In this seminar I will first give a qualitative description of the pulsar magnetosphere physics and of the most debated γ-ray emission and geometrical models used so fat to explain high-energy emission from pulsars. In the second part of the seminar, the LAT young and middle aged pulsar population observed by the LAT in the last 4 years will be described. In the third and last part of the talk I will show how to compare model predictions and observations by synthesising a pulsar population and by fitting the observed γ-ray and radio light curves with
modelled emission profiles.